Kids’ birthday parties are all the rage in our neighborhood. A bunch of indoor play halls with loads of inflatable structures and other kiddy games have opened these past few years around here, and they are very popular for birthdays. For a non negligible but well justified fee, you can organize your kid’s party and keep the mess of a dozen hyper 5 yrs old securely away from your own home. That’s sweet.

Truth is, they have WAY more fun that they would in anybody’s home, too !

Marla invited 6 of her best preschool buddies, plus her former nanny’s two kids, and all of them had a total blast.

That was one mighty HAPPY moment

I had taken the NEX 7 along, with the SEL35, and nothing else. With fast jumping kids and crude artificial light, one needs all the help they can get. The camera’s output at ISO 800 and 1600 was not to be faulted, and despite struggling with the fastest and most brutal spins and take offs, the AF globally did capture most of the moments.

They spent over half the party in this inflatable tiger’s mouth, which was articulated and cycled between open and shut, trapping the giggling and delighted kids inside.

The candle blowing was glorious

The present giving starts !

Oh, and that cake was pretty yummy

She managed to bang her head into the only non rubber or foam part of the entire place : a metal stair handrail. Ice was in order to contain the swelling

I’ve been shooting this baby for the past 5 years. I had interest in photography before, she turned it into a raging passion. I well intend to keeping on documenting her growth exactly the way I’ve done so far. It’s a photogaphic project, as well as a life one. And it makes for a lot of cool memories.

I am amused to see from her damp hair that she was being very energetic at the “Bounce House”. As you may or may not recall, earlier this year when you asked about experience with the Minolta 50mm macro lens, I took a few example shots for you that happened to be of my son’s older boy at a local “Bounce House”, complete with similarly wet hair. Some things seem to be universal . . .

The NEX built-in flash !! It’s brilliant in the 6 and 7, and needs to be dialed up a bit, as less powerful, on the 3N, but overall amazingly useful, bounced. If I really need portrait orientation bounce flash, I use an old Nikon SB-600 that tilts and swivels. I use only manual settings for flash, so the lack of TTL compatibility is not an issue. Thanks for the kind words about the blog 🙂

You just bounce the flash to the ceiling holding it with your finger, it is awkward at first but one does get used to it. for settings try M mode, ISO 400, aperture wide open and shutter 1/100th. Fine tune according to results. WB 4300K. Try it ! 🙂